How do you measure heaviness? You can down-tune your guitars to the bowels of Hell, play at the speed of light with the gain turned up to 11, and mimic the sick wailing of a terrified pig in your vocals, but is it heavy? If it’s anything, heaviness is a state of being, and Inter Arma have been mining that state since their debut. But their latest slab of concrete Sulphur English just might be their purest expression of what it means to be heavy to date. Continue reading
I was in a bus full of 50 screaming kids over the weekend so EXCUUUSE me for blasting all this week’s metal and downing all the cabinet bourbon. What’s up this week? Plenty, so read on good readers…
First up is Inter Arma who have seemingly found that elusive door to hell on Sulphur English. Seriously, between the nihilistic doom and devilish chants you’d think ol’ Beezlebub himself might have tracked this thing straight from his lair. Next up is black metal juggernauts Waldgeflüster who get weirdly chanty and folky on Mondscheinsonaten but it really is another outstanding notch in the belt of a band that has made their name residing outside the normal lines of black metal. Moving right along, NJ’s Hath capitalizes on the promise of their last EP with the insane death metal full length Champ du Sang, expect these guys to be large and in charge based on this. And, rounding out the top slots is Vous Autres who saw some action in a recent feature of ours (link contained below) but now offer Champ du Sang on physical format so there’s no excuse not to pick up this beast of blackened sludge, trust me (and Zyklonius) here: it rules and hard.
Get in there and get some. Plenty of good stuff this week so no excuses. Continue reading
It’s snowing. I’m drinking.
“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb
2018 has been quite the year. It was a roller coaster personally, nationally, globally, and in the realm of metal. There are people that I loved that are gone now. There are people who are gone that I should have loved more. I failed a lot of people. I’ve struggled in so many ways. If you are curious about that, just listen to the last Slaves BC record or read any interviews I did during that release cycle. I got fatter, fitter, quit smoking, joined five or six more bands, did artwork for some bands, did PR for some others, and spent a lot (but never enough) of time with my wonderful wife and animals.
Anyway, I listened to a ton of music again in 2018. I didn’t get a chance to talk about any of it very much, but I listened to a ton. 2018 was another fantastic year for metal/hardcore/whatever. I’ve been altering this list for months and I had a real hard time narrowing it down as much as I did. Just like last year, I have compiled my favorite 50 full length metal/hardcore records, favorite 10 non-metal records, and my top 10 favorite EP’s/singles/etc.
I made this playlist with one track from each of the records that are on Spotify for you to listen to a sampling of everything below. Thank you for checking this out and here’s to a better 2019!
Receiving the Evcharist is our weekly feature where we pair choice albums with our favorite libations. Drink from the cup of heresy. This week’s offering: Outer Heaven’s Realms of Eternal Decay and Campanology Brewing Company’s For Whom. Continue reading
